A string of villages sits perched on-top of hillsides along the Italian Rivera. The “five lands” or Cinque Terre include Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. After taking a three-hour train from Milan we arrived on April 25th, our anniversary. Noah and I celebrated two years together with pasta, wine, and gelato! I hope this post, A First Timer’s Guide to Cinque Terre, will help you plan your trip to Italy.
The sea is the heart of Cinque Terre. Local’s lives revolve around the steady flow of tourists and the daily catch. When we stepped off the train in Monterosso, the first thing I noticed was the salty air and smell of seafood. Vendors were selling paper cones filled with fried calamari and other tasty treats.
A glimpse of a chef prepping for the dinner rush & Riomaggiore’s port.
Airbnb is one of the best options for lodging in Cinque Terre. We stayed in a teeny one-bedroom apartment during our two-night stay in Vernazza. I’ve put together a list of some of the best Cinque Terre Airbnb’s below. Choosing which village to stay in depends on how secluded you would like to be. Monterosso is the largest and therefore has the most options, but I found it to be the most crowded due to the train station. I would suggest staying in one of the middle villages like Vernazza or Corniglia. That way it is easy to hike to one of the neighboring areas using the trekking trails.
Here are my top Cinque Terre Airbnb’s
Corniglia Balcony View Room, Vernazza Historial Centre, Vernazza Sea View Apartment
Of all the places we visited in Italy I have to say Cinque Terre had the best food. I wouldn’t be mad if I could only eat seafood spaghetti and bruschetta for the rest of my life. Both of these are local dishes you must try, along with pesto, focaccia bread, and white wine grown from the vineyards nearby.
Bruschetta and focaccia & prosciutto sandwich at Nessun Dorma & seafood spaghetti and homemade local pesto pasta.
Cinque Terre proved to have the most unpredictable weather. In one day we experienced a drizzle while wandering the streets in the morning, the sun peaked through the clouds as we ate lunch on a hillside, and a hail storm rolled through in the evening while relaxing in our Airbnb.
Wandering the streets in Monterosso waiting for restaurants to open for dinner.
Originally, when Noah and I decided to visit Cinque Terre, we were prepared to hike the trekking trails that link the five villages together. Our friend Jon had visited only a couple of weeks earlier and he declared it was one of his favorite spots in Europe. He’s spending the summer studying abroad in Austria (aka traveling everywhere) so that statement says a lot.
When we arrived in Cinque Terre, we were taken aback by how crowded everything was. Trains, streets, restaurants, etc. These villages were not made to hold a flood of tourists, myself included. It ended up feeling like more like Disney World than Italy. Overwhelmed by the crowds and disappointed to find that most of the hiking trails were closed due to landslides. Noah and I decided to change our plans. We made the best of things by spending half of the day relaxing in our Airbnb and learning the art of a European siesta. By midday, we were well-rested and ready to embrace the madness of central Vernazza. Instead of hiking we wandered along the water’s edge in the nearby towns and experimented taking photos with our new camera.
All in all, I enjoyed our time here, but it was not one of my favorite spots on our trip. In fact, my favorite stops ended up being the ones I least expected. That notion caught me off guard. The more I thought about it, the more I realized…
Expectations, planning, and someone else’s experience don’t determine YOUR experience.